Do you regularly want to copy a file to a specific folder? I’ve often noticed during 1:1 computer training sessions that people have their own way of filing that could benefit from a simple tweak to Windows Explorer.

Here are a couple of examples from my own working habits:

I often want to make a file available to my other computers. Since I use Dropbox, all I need to do is place the file in my dropbox folder and it will be automatically synchronised to my other computers. So, I want a quick way of copying my file into my Dropbox folder. I’m still a big fan of Dropbox, by the way. Here are my first and second blogs on the subject.

I create and download a lot of pdf files. I may well have them filed “by function” (eg a pdf file relating to a specific computer support client might be in the folder dedicated to that client). But if the file has more general application then I might also want it in a folder containing nothing other than pdf files (since I can often remember that a file I’m looking for is in a pdf format even if I can’t remember its name or where else I’ve put it). So, I might want a quick way of copying a pdf file from a specific client folder to my “pdf file store” (which, as it happens, is a specific folder inside my Dropbox folder).

So, what we need to do is to personalise a Windows “context menu” so that when we’ve selected a file in Windows Explorer we can easily send a copy of that file to a folder that we’ve previously defined as a destination for a “send to” action. A “context menu”, by the way, is a menu whose contents are dependent on the current context – ie the sort of item it includes depends on what you were doing when you invoked it. The context menu is invoked by right-clicking on the selected item.

Personalising the “send to” option is quite easy. Just follow the instructions for your own operating system:

Windows XP

Click the Start button.

Click Run.

In the Open box, type “sendto” (without the quotes), and then click OK.

Right-click on a blank part of the window that has opened.

Left-click on the “new” option.

Left-click on the “shortcut” option.

Left-click on the “browse” button.

Navigate to the folder you wish to add to the “send to” menu.

Click “OK”, “Next” & “Finish”.

Close the “SendTo” window.

Vista and Windows 7

Click on the Start button.

Type “shell:sendto” (without the quotes) into the search box.

Click on the shell:sendto option that is now listed above the search box.

Right-click on a blank part of the window that has opened.

Left-click on the “new” option.

Left-click on the “shortcut” option.

Left-click on the “browse” button.

Navigate to the folder you wish to add to the “send to” menu.

Click “OK”, “Next” & “Finish”.

Close the “SendTo” window.

Now, whenever you want to copy a file to that chosen destination, just right-click on the file, left-click the “send to” option, and then left-click on the sub-option you have just created (as below):

Some purists might say that this is all wrong: that instead of copying files all over the place we should be creating shortcuts that point to the one and only original file. I would agree with this when the file in question is one that’s often changed/updated after its creation. There’s nothing worse than having multiple versions of files all over the place and never knowing which is the latest version. If you need to get quick access to such files then the easiest way is just to place a shortcut on the desktop and access it from there. The “sendto” technique is better kept for files that are unlikely to change often – in which case, the “sendto” technique is much quicker than creating shortcuts and saves precious space on the desktop. As for not creating copies of files because that’s a waste of hard disc space, that’s only really an issue if you are definitely short of space.